Pubdate: Thu, 13 Apr 2006
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2006, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author:  Julian Sher
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers)

U.S. BIKER DENIES LINK TO 'HORRIBLE' GANGLAND SLAYINGS

'We Don't Do That Kind Of Thing,' Houston-Based Bandido Chief Says

The Texas-based president of the international Bandidos biker club 
says he was as "shocked as anybody else" by the deaths of eight of 
his members last weekend in Ontario and denied his organization had 
anything to do with the slaying.

"The only people that really know what happened are the eight people 
killed and maybe the people in jail," Jeff Pike said in an exclusive 
interview with The Globe and Mail from his home outside Houston. 
"Whatever happened . . . what a mess!"

Mr. Pike took over the leadership of the 2,400-strong biker gang -- 
second only to the Hells Angels worldwide -- when the long-serving 
Bandido chieftain, George Wegers, was arrested last June along with 
19 other bikers and charged, under tough U.S. anti-racketeering laws, 
with conspiracies to commit murder, kidnapping, extortion and 
methamphetamine distribution .

"We're no stranger to funerals," said the new leader of the biker 
gang known for its ferocity. "But this was a shock. I really feel 
sorry for their families. It was a horrible thing, no matter how you 
look at it."

Mr. Pike angrily dismissed as a "stupid story" reports in some 
newspapers of a hit squad being sent from Chicago to deal with 
troublesome Canadian members. "We don't do that kind of stuff."

The biker leader's denials got an unusual endorsement from Detective 
Gary Georgia of the Albuquerque police special investigations 
department, which has been tracking the Bandidos since 1985.

"That story makes no sense," he said, noting that the Bandidos do not 
have a presence in Chicago or anywhere else in the Midwest or eastern 
United States.

Det. Georgia, though no fan of the Bandidos, said Mr. Pike is seen as 
a "capable and respected" biker leader. "Sometimes he's a straight 
shooter," he said.

He confirmed there have been tensions between the Texas-based gang 
and their poor-performing Canadian franchise, which has not held its 
own against the Hells Angels' monopoly of the outlaw biker scene in Canada.

Mr. Pike himself admitted he was "disappointed" so many Bandidos in 
Canada in recent years have switched allegiances and joined their 
hated rivals, the Hells Angels. "If someone could so easily change, 
it shows their heart is not in the right place in the first place."

But Mr. Pike vehemently denied the Bandidos made any deals with the 
Hells Angels to cede any territory or drug turf in Canada. "We don't 
buy and sell people," he said.

He said the Ontario killings -- which wiped out the only official 
chapter the Bandidos had left in Canada -- meant "there's going to be 
a hard road back" to rebuilding the club here.

"It would take years," he said. "A Bandidos patch is earned. It's not 
something you buy on eBay."

But the Bandidos leader felt in the long term the massacre would have 
little impact on the growth of his organization, which has 170 
chapters in 14 countries.

"The Hells Angels damn near did the same thing," he said, referring 
to the massacre of five Hells Angels in Lennoxville, Que., in 1985, 
which did not stop the club from expanding. "I don't think it will effect us."

Mr. Pike -- who at the age of 50 has carried the Bandidos patch for 
27 years -- echoed the oft-repeated refrain that his gang was not 
engaged in any illegal activity.

"We don't condone it and we damn sure don't require it," he said. 
"What a member does for himself is his own business."

Asked about the Bandidos' reputation for law-breaking, Mr. Pike 
replied: "We get speeding tickets all the time."

Det. Georgia said police statistics show that between 70 per cent and 
80 per cent of Bandidos members have criminal records for drugs, 
weapons or other violent offences.

Perhaps because police wiretaps played such a big role in the mass 
arrest of Bandidos in Washington State last June, the greeting 
message on Mr. Pike's voicemail says: "This phone is bugged. Don't 
say nothing."

Mr. Pike said he is used to police criticism and negative media 
coverage and expressed confidence his biker gang would ride out the 
storm generated by the largest mass murder in Ontario history.

"If I worried what others thought," said the American Bandido, "I 
would have joined the Boy Scouts."
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